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Digital presence, “findability,” and search-engine optimization (SEO) increasingly are standard operating tools for jobseekers. Closely tied to the demise of job boards is the growing conviction among recruiters that what recruiting guru Dr. John Sullivan the “we find you” approach is better than “you find us,” in which job-seekers find employers and jobs through job boards and company career sites. Recruiting expert Adler’s take is “find jobs for people, not people for jobs.” And on the job-seeker side, Dan Schawbel, author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, suggests that candidates “search for people, not jobs.”

All these philosophies underscore the importance of relationships and the ability to be found online if you are interested in a new job. We’ve talked about the significance of an online or digital presence since our 2005 report, but as job boards diminish in importance and effectiveness, and hiring decision-makers shift their approaches to connecting with talent, digital presence becomes a must. The job-search scene has shifted from a job-board approach to a Web 2.0 approach, described by Kevin Wheeler, president and founder of Global Learning Resources, Inc., this way: “Web 2.0 is the evolution from text-based, online brochure-like websites to websites that are interactive, allow control and input from the candidate, and provide information in a variety of formats, including video, audio, graphics, and text. Web 2.0 sites tend to focus on blogs, wikis, and chat, and they keep the boilerplate to a minimum.”

One of the most basic and growing ways that recruiters look for candidates is though simple Internet searches, especially using the ubiquitous Google search engine. While recruiting for a large software company, Seattle-based Alice Hanson described how she found candidates: “The first thing I do is go to Google and look for resumes that are posted to the Internet. These are the first people I call because they are free,” she explained. “The next is members in professional organizations and people listed in ZoomInfo (a site that provides a compilation of any mention of a person anywhere on the Web in any search engine) and on Linkedin.com.”

Hanson continued, “We go through our own database of resumes and see if there are any ‘live ones.’ Then, we target competitive firms that we want to raid and cold call for referrals of people that they know who are looking and get their resumes. If all that fails, the last option is paying good money to search through Monster.com and specialty databases. Monster is the dead-last place we look.”

Dr. Randall S. Hansen is founder of Quintessential Careers, one of the oldest and most comprehensive career development sites on the Web, as well CEO of EmpoweringSites.com. He is also founder of MyCollegeSuccessStory.com and EnhanceMyVocabulary.com. He is publisher of Quintessential Careers Press, including the Quintessential Careers electronic newsletter, QuintZine. Dr. Hansen is also a published author, with several books, chapters in books, and hundreds of articles. He’s often quoted in the media and conducts empowering workshops around the country. Finally, Dr. Hansen is also an educator, having taught at the college level for more than 15 years. Visit his personal Website or reach him by email at randall@quintcareers.com. Check out Dr. Hansen on GooglePlus.